The Department of History at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

(also known as the Harvard History Department) is a department of history located in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, United States. The school offers

bachelor's degrees A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

master's degrees A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

doctorate degrees A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' l ...

, and a certificate in

digital history Digital history is the use of digital media to further historical analysis, presentation, and research. It is a branch of the digital humanities and an extension of quantitative history, cliometrics, and computing. Digital history is commonly dig ...

. The department ranks as one of the top history departments in the United States and the world.

Academics

The

Department of History is home to some of the world's leading and most renowned scholars in history. The department focuses on multiple areas within history "including social life, the economy, culture, thought, and politics. Students of history study individuals, groups, communities, and nations from every imaginable perspective." The department also runs the History of Science program, which "deals with important questions about the rise and impact of science, medicine, and technology, both east and west, and at all periods, including the very recent past."

Undergraduate students Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...

can concentrate in history and receive an A.B. degree. Students are also able to take courses in joint-degree programs, including the Joint Concentration in

Ancient History Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

(Greek and Roman), the Joint Concentration in

East Asian East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea a ...

History, and the Joint Concentration in

Near Eastern History NEAR or Near may refer to: People * Thomas J. Near, US evolutionary ichthyologist * Near, a developer who created the higan emulator Science, mathematics, technology, biology, and medicine * National Emergency Alarm Repeater (NEAR), a forme ...

Graduate students Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. The organization and struc ...

can work towards a M.A. or Ph.D. in history. Students may also work towards a joint J.D. / Ph.D. degree. The department is affiliated with a number of research centers and programs at Harvard, including: *

Center for Hellenic Studies The Center for Hellenic Studies (CHS) is a research institute for classics located in Washington, D.C. at 3100 NW Whitehaven Street. It is affiliated with Harvard University. Nestled in Rock Creek Park behind Embassy Row, the Center for Hellen ...

* Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History *

Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments Harvard University's Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments (CHSI), established 1948, is "one of the three largest university collections of its kind in the world". Waywiser, the online catalog of the collection, lists over 60% of the co ...

Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute The Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (HURI) is a research institute affiliated with Harvard University devoted to Ukrainian studies, including the history, culture, language, literature, and politics of Ukraine. Other areas of study include s ...

W. E. B. Du Bois Institute The W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute, formerly the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research, is part of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research located at Harvard University. Its main work is ...

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs A weatherhead, also called a weathercap, service head, service entrance cap, or gooseneck (slang) is a weatherproof service drop entry point where overhead power or telephone wires enter a building, or where wires transition between overhead an ...

Harvard and Slavery

The Harvard and Slavery initiative was established in 2006 in order to recognize and "research the historical connections between Harvard University and slavery". The program began as ''Harvard and Slavery: Seeking a Forgotten History'', which summarized undergraduate research linking the history of slavery to

local history Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context, often concentrating on a relatively small local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history. Local history is not merely national history writ small bu ...

. According to professor of history

Sven Beckert Sven Beckert is Laird Bell Professor of American History at Harvard University, where he teaches the history of the United States in the nineteenth century, and global history. With Christine A. Desan, he is the co-director of the Program on t ...

, "We want to inspire others to dig deeper into this history, but even more so we want to encourage a broader debate on what this history means for us today." A report on the findings of this research (''Full Report of the Findings of History 84G'') was subsequently published in 2011. They found that Harvard was supported by donations from a slave-based economy, affiliated with scholars who promoted ideas of scientific racism, and hired professors and students who owned slaves. In 2016, then Harvard University President

Drew Gilpin Faust Catharine Drew Gilpin Faust (born September 18, 1947) is an American historian and was the 28th president of Harvard University, the first woman to serve in that role. She was Harvard's first president since 1672 without an undergraduate or gradu ...

and Congressman

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

unveiled a plaque dedicated to the memory of four enslaved people, Titus, Venus, Bilhah, and Juba, who worked at the university. Scholars described this ceremony as an important step in recognizing the historic legacy of slavery. In 2017, a memorial was built at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

to honor “the enslaved whose labor created wealth that made possible the founding of the Harvard Law School." The next University President,

Lawrence S. Bacow Lawrence Seldon Bacow (; born August 24, 1951) is an American lawyer, economist, author and university administrator, and the current and 29th president of Harvard University. He took office on July 1, 2018, succeeding Drew Gilpin Faust. Before ...

, announced another $5 million would be invested to continue investigating Harvard's ties to slavery, led by

Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is a part of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts, a ...

Dean

Tomiko Brown-Nagin Tomiko Brown-Nagin (born c. 1970) is an American law professor, historian, author, and university leader. She is dean of Harvard Radcliffe Institute, one of the world’s leading centers for interdisciplinary research across the humanities, scien ...

Rankings

The Department of History is frequently cited as one of the premier institutions for the study of history. '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranks the department at #4. According to the QS World University rankings in history, Harvard has consistently ranked first among history faculties worldwide from 2020 to 2023.

Notable faculty

* David Armitage *

Allan M. Brandt Allan Morris Brandt (born 1953) is a historian of medicine and the Amalie Kass Professor of History of Medicine and Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University. He is an author of several books, including ''The Cigarette Century: The ...

* Vincent Brown *

* Sidney Chalhoub *

Joyce Chaplin Joyce E. Chaplin (born July 28, 1960, in Antioch, California) is an American historian and academic known for her writing and research on early American history, environmental history, and intellectual history. She is the James Duncan Phillips Prof ...

Lizabeth Cohen Lizabeth Cohen is the current Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies in the History Department at Harvard University, as well as a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor. From 2011-2018 she served as the Dean of Harvard's ...

Emma Dench Emma Dench (born 1963) is an English ancient historian, classicist, and academic administrator. She has been McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History at Harvard University since 2014, and Dean of its Graduate School of Arts and Sciences ...

Peter Galison Peter Louis Galison (born May 17, 1955, New York) is an American historian and philosopher of science. He is the Joseph Pellegrino University Professor in history of science and physics at Harvard University. Biography Galison received his Ph. ...

* Peter Gordon * Andrew Gordon *

Annette Gordon-Reed Annette Gordon-Reed (born November 19, 1958) is an American historian and law professor. She is currently the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University and a professor of history in the university's Faculty of Arts & Sciences. She ...

Evelynn Hammonds Evelynn Maxine Hammonds (born 1953) is an American feminist and scholar. She is the Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science and Professor of African and African-American Studies at Harvard University, and former Dean of Har ...

* Tamar Herzog *

Maya Jasanoff Maya R. Jasanoff is an American academic. She serves as Coolidge Professor of History at Harvard University, where she focuses on the history of Britain and the British Empire. Early life Jasanoff grew up in Ithaca, New York and comes from a f ...

Walter Johnson Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed "Barney" and "The Big Train", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year baseball career in Major League Baseball as a right-ha ...

* Cemal Kafadar *

Joseph Koerner Joseph Leo Koerner (born June 17, 1958) is an American art historian and filmmaker. He is currently the Victor S. Thomas Professor of the History of Art and Architecture and, since 2008, Senior Fellow at the Society of Fellows at Harvard Universi ...

* Ewa Lajer-Burcharth *

Jill Lepore Jill Lepore is an American historian and journalist. She is the David Woods Kemper '41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and a staff writer at ''The New Yorker'', where she has contributed since 2005. She writes about American ...

Charles S. Maier Charles S. Maier (born February 23, 1939, in New York City) is the Leverett Saltonstall Research Professor of History at Harvard University. He teaches European and international history at Harvard. Biography Maier served as the director of th ...

* Erez Manela * Tiya Miles * Khalil Gibran Muhammad *

Naomi Oreskes Naomi Oreskes (; born November 25, 1958) is an American historian of science. She became Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University in 2013, after 15 years as Professor of H ...

References

{{Harvard University, state=collapsed Harvard University History departments in the United States Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences Harvard University Department of History faculty History of Harvard University